3 Months and A Hearty Dose of Randomness!

Warning: There are some adorable pictures in this blog post, but there are in no particular order and are mingled with my ramblings! Proceed with caution and don't say I didn't warn you!

My parents live on a farm, which I adore. I didn't when I was a kid, mostly because it required that I do chores, carry in wood (they have wood heat), and put up with flies. Now I so want to live there. I crave the outdoors, the fresh air, the freedom to be as loud as you want, and to see WAY more stars than you can see in the city. My parents are very generous people, my mom never comes to our home empty handed and she never lets us leave theirs without some sort of 'blessing'...usually she has a brown paper sack with my name written on it, filled with all kinds of random things-one of Micah's socks he left last time we visited, a book she wants me to read, a newspaper clipping OR, OR yummy goodness from the farm. A couple of weekends ago the boys and I headed down there after church. They napped on the way and we spent just a couple of hours there leaving in time for yet another nap! My mom filled my van with all kinds of bounty: basil from her garden (which is about all she has growing at this point), apples, and eggs. After we visited them we traveled just 6 miles down the road and picked some red raspberries at my sister's house! I came home with a boat-load of goodness!

I was a little overwhelmed with the abundance, but decided to take on thing at a time. To prevent fruit flies from bombarding our kitchen I decided to cook up the apples that night. I ended up making a batch of freezer jam from the raspberries. I HIGHLY recommend making freezer jam, its so stinkin' easy!

Below is a picture of one of the batches of applesauce. I ended up freezing a total of 4 quarts of applesauce. I can't wait to give some to Jude once he starts eating!

Jude just gets cuter...and bigger every day! Jason was gone last week, he took some of the youth to a leadership/evangelism conference in Chicago. When he got back he couldn't get over how much Jude had grown in just that week.

Yesterday Micah needed a project. I am trying my hardest to find a balance of allowing him to be a toddler and keeping him somewhat quiet while Jude naps. To add to this challenge, Micah walked off with the receiving end of our monitor and I can't find it ANYWHERE!!! I even looked through the trash to make sure he hadn't thrown it away! Since we can't find the monitor I am hesitant to take Micah outside while Jude is napping...the 95 degree weather isn't motivating either ;)

So, back to the project...I decided to make some bread yesterday. We were out of bread, but not anything else. I didn't want to go to the store for just bread, cuz we all know how that turns out- you walk out with $95 worth of 'bread and then some'! Micah LOVES to help in the kitchen, sometimes I just let him stand on a chair and play with a bowl and spoon just to occupy him while I load the dishwasher. I started to let him help me make the batter, but then decided that was a bad idea when he dropped the flour scoop into the batter ;) So, I gave him his own bowl with a couple of teaspoons of flour and a wooden spoon...bingo! I put him in his high chair and let him knead his own dough and then taught him how to eat it too ;)

"Mmmm, its nummy!" He said.

He did a great job keading, actually!

This isn't the best picure of Micah, but you get the idea.

Last weekend was 'Tiffinfest', yes you heard me right, and no mom, not Chickenfest ;)! I took the boys to their first parade Friday night. Micah had a great time and kept yelling "Bye-Bye" to all the vehicles as they passed us! The only thing that would've made it better was if Jason would have been there. Jason got home the next day and we headed out to the rest of the festivities, which were all FREE ;)

The rest of 'Tiffinfest' was held in the park right next door to us. Free and within walking distance...sweet!

They had a fireworks, monster trucks and demo derby, a petting zoo, Uof I Air Care helicopter, and those scary carnival rides. As we were walking over the Air Care helicopter was getting ready to leave, so they asked us to stay where we were until it had taken off. We got the best view!

Micah enjoying the petting zoo! He still asks to see the 'moo moo', almost a whole week later!

This was our view of the helicopter taking off! I love this picture of Micah and Jason...and it wasn't even staged ;)

Here's our little chunk of a boy. Although this picture doesn't portray it well, Jude is all smiles these days. He has a husky little voice and a cute laugh. We've started transitioning him into the crib (yes, he's been sleeping in his carseat). Have I mentioned that I hate sleep training? I know its so worth it in the end, but golly-gee this might be worse than sleep deprivation itself. Don't worry Grandmas we're not letting him cry too much!

Oh, and we've started basketball drills with him also...I mean, look at those feet!